Photo: George E. Koronaios (CC BY-SA 4.0)
A self-guided audio tour of Dion, at the foot of Mount Olympus, in two parts: the museum in the village and the archaeological park beyond it. In the museum, opened in 1983, it tells how Dion became the religious centre of the Macedonian kingdom under King Archelaus, was plundered by the Aetolians in 219 BC and became a Roman colony under Augustus, and how the site was recognised in 1806 and excavated from 1928; a second stop is given to the hydraulis, a water organ of the first century BC found in 1992, and the museum's statues. In the park it visits the Hellenistic theatre and the Roman theatre, the sanctuary of Olympian Zeus, the most sacred place of the kingdom, and the sanctuaries of Asclepius, Demeter, Zeus Hypsistos and Isis among the river and its springs. Inside the walled city it reads the Roman houses of Leda and Zosas, the odeion and the great baths, the episcopal basilica, the praetorium guesthouse and the Villa of Dionysos, and ends at the city walls built by King Cassander of limestone from Mount Olympus.
16 narrations, yours to keep — no subscription, no expiry. Works offline once downloaded, and if it isn’t for you we’ll refund it.
Going somewhere with no signal? Put the guide on your home screen first, then download it from that icon while you are on wi-fi — that way you download once, and it works in airplane mode with no roaming charges. Show me the order →
Every claim in this tour traces back to a named source — excavation records, the heritage authority for the site, and the primary texts themselves. Nothing is copied from other guidebooks, and anything we can't source doesn't make the recording.
Each stop is built from OpenStreetMap · 22 features in this old town (the field-surveyed mapping database behind Apple Maps), Wikidata · 20 cross-referenced entries (peer-reviewed structured records), the heritage authority below, and the primary historical texts where they exist.
Cross-referenced against Modern excavation publications · academic peer-review.
Every sentence is checked against those sources before it is recorded. If a claim can't be traced, it doesn't make the audio.
Every tour is reviewed by a person before it goes on sale. Stop selection, the route and anything ambiguous come back to the editor for a decision, and those questions routinely send a stop back for another accuracy pass. Nothing publishes on a machine’s say-so.
Spot anything inaccurate? Email [email protected] — fixed in the next pass.
Archaeological Museum of Dion, Museum: the Hydraulis and the Statues, Hellenistic Theatre, Roman Theatre, Sanctuary of Olympian Zeus.
Sanctuary of Asclepius, Sanctuary of Demeter, Sanctuary of Zeus Hypsistos, Sanctuary of Isis, Houses of Leda and Zosas, Odeion.
Great Baths, Episcopal Basilica, Praetorium, Villa of Dionysos, City Walls and Gate.
The water organ of the first century BC found in 1992, the earliest pipe organ yet found by archaeologists, and a family of statues.
The theatre on a low hill south of the city, probably built or rebuilt under Philip the Fifth after the Aetolians destroyed Dion.
The most sacred place of the Macedonian kingdom, where the ceremonies of royal power were held, near the foot of the god's mountain.
Where Dion's water and its gods meet: three temples on a courtyard beside the river Vaphyras and its springs.
The social centre of the Roman city, with cold, warm and hot rooms over a hypocaust heated by brick furnaces.
A luxurious Roman house of the second century AD, built for display, with courtyards, peristyles and its own bath building.
Tap "Start Walking Tour" and allow location access. The map shows all 16 narration points.
Follow the suggested route or explore freely. GPS tracks your position. Reach a site and the narration plays automatically.
Each site has its own narration. 16 narration points.
Narrations play when you reach each site. No buttons, no track numbers. Walk naturally — the stories find you.
Premium narration that sounds like a documentary. Warm and knowledgeable, not a textbook reading.
Every narration is drafted, cross-checked against primary sources, then passed through a second editorial pass that strips unsupported claims. Dates, names, and citations verified.
See all narration points on the map. Tap any point to hear it early or replay it later.
Every narrated point in Dion — the Sacred City below Olympus, each with its own narration.
Spend an hour or a full day. Skip sites, revisit favourites, take breaks. The tour adapts to you.
16 narration points, including Archaeological Museum of Dion, Museum: the Hydraulis and the Statues, Hellenistic Theatre, Roman Theatre and Sanctuary of Demeter. That is about 17 minutes of narration in all, and you walk between the stops at your own pace.
Yes. It plays in your phone’s browser as you walk: no guide, no group, no app to install and no fixed start time.
Three ways, all built in:
The map-tap option means you can stand anywhere — even at home before you travel — and play any narration. GPS just makes it hands-free while you’re actually walking the site.
No. Use the “Download for offline” button before you go, and the entire tour — audio, maps, narration text — works without any data connection. Tap-to-play and the map both work fully offline. GPS itself doesn’t need data; only the download does.
Add the icon first, then download from the icon. On iPhone a guide downloaded in Safari cannot be seen by the home screen icon, so downloading first means downloading the whole thing twice.
Putting it on your home screen — iPhone or iPad (Safari):
On Android (Chrome): tap the three-dot menu at the top right, tap Add to Home screen (some phones say Install app), then confirm. On Android either order works.
If you opened this link from inside Instagram, Facebook or Gmail, you are in that app’s built-in browser. It cannot add anything to your home screen, and a guide downloaded there is thrown away when the app closes. Open the link in Safari or Chrome first.
Two backstops. First, the map shows every site — just tap the marker for the place in front of you. Second, you can manually queue any narration even when GPS is off. The platform never assumes GPS works; it’s the convenience layer, not the gate.
The audio runs ~1–2 hours total, but you walk at your own pace. 16 narration points across the site. Most visitors take 2–4 hours; some spread it over multiple visits. Once you buy it, it’s yours — there’s no expiry and no subscription. Come back next year if you like; the link in your receipt always works.
One purchase covers one device session. Most couples share earbuds and use a single phone — the audio is paced for that. If you want everyone listening on their own device, each person needs their own purchase. We do not gate sharing aggressively; we trust visitors to do the right thing.
Full refund if you never trigger a single narration on-site. Partial refund based on how far you got. See the refund policy for specifics.